Do the mods know when a user has two accounts (or more)?

I think there are ways to track the accounts back to the user.

I would imagine they do if they are linked to the same e-mail address or even their IP address. Hopefully one of them will let us know.

My guess is that they do…whaaaa haaa haaaaaaaaaa! ;)

Yes, moderators can see multiple accounts when they are used from the same IP address. This allows us to intervene if an anonymous account is being used to game the system, abuse the rules, or harass another user.

Yes they do. Trust me, I know from first hand experience…

I was a bad boy back in the day (last year) and created another account. With this account, I gamed the system by giving my original account GA’s and GQ’s from the second account. Alas, I was caught merely a few days later. They quickly slapped my hand and I use that account no longer.

What @syz said, with the addition that we take your privacy very seriously. Any data we glean with SuperJelly powers, such as a user’s IP/location or alternate accounts, doesn’t get shared with non-Mods. I don’t think most of us are in the habit of stalking other users, either, so there’s a good chance even we won’t know an alternate is you, unless we have a reason to investigate. The only time these details are pertinent to the Mods is when we are tracking down spammers, trolls, and lurve gamers.

@syz So then do you have a list of all the IPs for a certain user? Or do you see if more than one user is logged in at a time from an IP? How does this all work?

We can see what accounts are on the same IP address, and the different IP addresses used by each account, but we don’t keep track of that kind of thing. This information is not front and center, say on your profile page… we have to go looking for it. We only go looking in cases of lurve gaming, trolls, spammers and the like. Most importantly, if we do happen to stumble on your alternate identity, your secrets are safe with us. I promise.

We can’t see who is presently logged in, no matter what IP they may be using.

IP isn’t always a reliable indicator of multiple accounts. Often, different family members will use the same computer to access the same site, so all will have the same IP. Also, all dial-up users, and even many broadband customers, get assigned a different IP address from their ISPs IP pool each time they restart their computer and/or reset their cable modem. And different customers who use that ISP may get assigned the same IP from that pool on different days. It’s a good start or tracking down people who have multiple accounts, but it’s not an infallible method.

@HungryGuy True. I was on a different ISP when I first became a mod, and was shocked to look at my own info and find that I shared an IP with like, a hundred other people!

@augustlan That’s often the case with mobile Internet, as base stations/towers typically have a limited pool of IPs that many users will be making connections from simultaneously.

@chyna GQ. The way the ex-mod wrote it, it made it seem like there’s a master list of all Fluther users and their known aliases, like it’s the freaking FBI.